Enforce Your Authority: How to Silence the Devil with the Word
There is a spiritual reality and a natural reality.
Effectiveness in a Spirit-filled life is understanding how to draw out what is in the realm of the Spirit and see it manifest in the natural. Romans 1:20 supports the reality of God’s invisible qualities, such as His eternal power and divine nature, and all His attributes in the realm of the Spirit, which are seen and understood from what has been made. This implies that the natural world provides evidence of the supernatural.
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:46).
First Corinthians 15:46 refers to the bodies of Adam and Jesus, one being natural and the other originating from the Spirit. When considering this scripture, I one day began to recognize the reality of the realm of the spirit and the necessary steps required to receive what is already accomplished there.
The Natural (Here) The Spirit (There)
Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives (Hebrews 7:8).
As we see in Hebrews 7:8, the principle is present. “Here” mortal men receive tithes, and “there” He receives them….” Here represents the “natural,” and the other represents the “spiritual.” We live in the natural world, but there is also a spirit world. What we do here in the natural world has a profound impact on what happens in the spiritual realm. The dividing line between the two is the soul (mind, will, and emotions), and it is the area that can determine what will be experienced in the territories of either the natural or the spiritual.
Like Jesus, who was a life-giving Spirit brought forth by God’s Word and the word of prophets and declarations throughout the Old Testament, the Body of Jesus took generations of the spoken word, ranging from God Almighty in Genesis, to the prophets, David in the Psalms, until finally the Word became flesh. Jesus is the Word made flesh (see John 1), and we must recognize these spiritual realities, or the living things in the realm of the spirit, come about in our lives in a similar way.
If You Work The Word, The Word Works
If you disrespect the godly principles of the Spirit, you’ll get a disrespected manifestation in the natural. Sowing God’s Word and principles and respecting the Spirit’s godly principles will produce a supernatural reaction in the natural world. Whatever controls the territory of the mind will have a greater influence on a person’s quality of life. Thoughts can alter the human experience and shape our beliefs.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Romans 8:5-14).
The Law of the Mind
For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (Romans 7:22-23).
The mind is the veil that separates the natural and the spiritual. The law of the mind says you will receive and experience what you believe. For example, if you think God does not exist in the natural, you may receive some of what God promises by accident; however, you will not receive the things of the spirit. An unrenewed mind operates in the “flesh” or is “carnal.” The flesh, or carnal mind, is simply a mind that relies solely on the five senses—what you see, hear, smell, taste, or feel. It has no relationship with the spiritual. The human mind is like an incubator of thought and meditation. What you meditate on long enough will be drawn into your natural experience. This is why taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ is so vital. We must constantly challenge ourselves by asking: What am I thinking about? Whatever you are thinking and saying on a consistent and regular basis is what you will eventually experience.
The Natural Comes First
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:46).
Notice the reference in 1 Corinthians 15:46 to the spiritual not being first—this is a remarkable statement. Most people would ask, “What is first, the spirit or the natural?” Often, many would respond by saying, “The spiritual.” Why? Because they know this is the realm of God, they know that we should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (see Matthew 6:33). Many scriptural truths would point us to believe that the realm of the spirit comes first in the order of things.
In context, this scripture speaks of the first Adam and the Last Adam. It explains that the first Adam was a natural man, and the Last Adam was a life-giving Spirit, straight from God. In this context, the principle is that the spiritual is not first, but instead the natural is first. Here is one principle you can take away from this scripture. There must be an action in the natural, which is faith, before a supernatural reaction can manifest from the spirit realm.
Getting A Supernatural Reaction
An example would be healing. We know we are to lay hands on the sick and they will recover. This means there is a natural faith action of stretching out your physical hand and placing it on a person. A spiritual or supernatural reaction occurs with this biblical, natural action of faith. Healing will manifest in a physical body. Why doesn’t it just happen straight from the Spirit? This is because the kingdom of God works through you—a natural, free, moral agent.
Similarly, salvation works through the natural preaching of the gospel. A preacher must open their mouth and release natural words by faith. Natural hearing occurs and a supernatural reaction happens when those who hear, believe and receive salvation in Jesus. That supernatural experience of salvation results from something that occurred first in the natural, which induced or permitted a supernatural encounter. A better way to understand this would be to say that humans are the gatekeepers to what is allowed into this natural world; ergo, first in the natural, then in the spiritual.
To experience a supernatural reaction, there must be a predicated natural action. This would be what we call a faith action. Faith actions often defy soulish logic and reason when the action takes you beyond the soulish barrier and accesses the realm of the spirit. Faith is like a bridge between the soul and the spirit, causing a super-natural reaction. Take prophecy, for example. When speaking out by faith in the natural word of the Lord, it bypasses the soulish veil into the realm of the spirit, causing a manifestation back into the natural. This is a simple picture of what I refer to as getting a supernatural reaction.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).
Good teaching is the best form of deliverance. Because of a renewed mind to the Word of God, the devil cannot get to the believer directly.
The Spirit Realm is the Parent Force
When the mind is renewed, spiritual results in the natural will come. This natural world was not what birthed the spirit; the spirit realm birthed the natural realm. The spirit is the parent force; the greater the authority and creativity, the greater the reality. When believers renew their minds about what’s done in the greater reality, it will manifest into the natural with horsepower that will break things free for them, and the devil won’t be able to get at them.
An unrenewed mind is a carnal mind. One will reap in the realm of the spirit by ceasing to sow to the natural mind and renewing the mind to be fully persuaded that God’s Word is truth.
